Are there folks who's pickups get's lose enough to move around in the cavity?

Well, this consistently happening when I play my bass. Is there a remedy?

I am seriously thinking about retrofitting a poly-urethane thin cushion liner for the flat surface layer of the pickup cavity, with hopes to provide enough flex-ion and protection between the wood and pickup, which I believe would have a more snug fit while providing a great upward force, holding the screws.

Anyone have any ideas?

What about adding springs on the screws, had anyone tried this method?

You could try thread locking fluid to ensure the screws are secure, it easily frees off with the slightest turn as it just 'fills' out the thread pitch. Strange that this should happen as mine have never worked loose. Maybe because you have them low that the screws are at the thread limits although with taking one out I think they are threaded all they to the bolt cap. keep us posted on the problem

You're close to Alembic, correct? If it's not something that someone here has a solution for, I'd take it back to Alembic and ask them to figure it out before I started putting springs or neoprene in the pickup cavity.

Which screws are coming loose - the ones under the pickup mount or the ones above the pickup mount? Are both pickups coming loose?

As Toby explained, the way the pickup mounting works is that the screws under the pickup determine the height, and the screws above the pickup provide the clamping pressure. This is the same system we've used ever since we started having 4 screws per pickup, so it should be the same on both of your basses.

I'm thinking that if you have the pickups lowered so much, the clamping screws are simply too long. I can mail you a small package with some shorter screws to try.

Although the problems are not immediate after making adjustments to a nice, and snug fit with the screw tensions. However, after playing a few sets of straight 4 hour playing, the pickups starts to wobble... (still in tact, mind you...) but lose enough to stop production.

Hello Hal - here is a reversible suggestion, and a cheap/non threatning/non asthetic impact one. Get some plumbers thread tape from a hardware store and put a wrap or two on the screws a few mm from the start of the thread. Should add the extra friction/tightness you need and is easily removable.

Ok, I will be honest with everybody. I would love to see Alembic change their configuration of having the naked pickup up against hard wood cavity held by a static tension, which could chip or damage the pickups.

To solve this problem, I applied a gasket...

I placed a pair of soft foam pads under my pickups "cut-to-shape-to-fit" and fastened everything as normal.

I believe it's better than the original setup, because it's padded, and there's less stress between my lacquer finish and pickups.

The solution is nice and snug enough to handle any of my playing vibrations which loosened the screws in the first place.

The "gasket" method works nicely, and I believe it should be a standard feature.

Correct me if I'm reading what you're writing incorrectly, but the only reason other basses use some sort of foam padding below the pickup is because there isn't a built in 'stop' like the under-pickup height determining screws Alembic uses. Other types of pickups can be pressed down into the pickup cavity, so a spring or piece of foam is used to keep the pickup relatively stable.

If Alembic pickups are properly seated against those bottom screws, why do you need anything underneath? The only way the pickups should touch the bottom of the pickup route is if you're hitting the pickup so hard that the casing is breaking and/or you're actually breaking the height setting screws found underneath the pickups, allowing the pickups to travel down.

Hal- it sounds like Mica may have addressed your problem by offering a different length screw, but once the issue is resolved, those pickups shouldn't hit the bottom ever again (unless you lower them all the way down so they're resting against the basses body.

BTW: the activator pickups and the jazz/P style Alembic pickups DO move around in the pickup route because they're made with the traditional 1 screw per side construction. It was the one thing about my custom Elan that I didn't consider before hand and that I wasn't entirely crazy about.

The 2 screws (the 2 screws in the inside) does keep the pickups from touching the bottom, for those people who preferably heightens their pickups.

However, I like mine "deep down in the pocket, and in the socket. And although my pickups are at the base, I still don't like my pickups resting on only two screws alone...

Also, with the pickups being elevated by opposite static forces, is no doubt a very creative idea for pickup height adjustments. But, after experiencing issues, I can clearly understand if any of the screws are lose at the slightest, it trows the balance completely off.

Therefore, with the "Gasket" method, as I explained it softens the static pressure and weight on the screws alone and acts as a micro deck, evenly distributing the weight equally and less stress on the screws alone.

I seen the damage those two screws done on other Alembics over the years, so I know from my own eyes. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea to even use a softer head or something softer than stainless steel. Maybe a screw with rubber head, or a softer nylon. But I still like the gasket method better.

rusty..I mentioned that earlier in the thread but good job you mentioned the Blue type as I didn't. Since I do quite a lot of car & bike maintenance I use quite a lot of the Red type most of the time so the 'Blue'type didn't enter my thoughts.

It's magic stuff, glad to hear the tape worked out. Also good to hear you are playing enough to work your pickups loose in a session. I have just moved my series 1 to my flat in Beijing so that I have an alembic in my second home. Was really missing having a series bass around.

One of my pickups was quite loose. It turned out that one of the anchors for a top screw had pulled out of the body. I opted for the quick fix of reversing the four screws so the top positions became bottoms and vice versa. It's less than ideal when shelling out thousands for a bass, but it works.